In 1854, Dr. Edwin Snow pioneered efforts to document and analyze a wave of cholera which attacked the citizens of Providence. Tracking the disease among his own patients, he devoted himself to tracing its source and preventing its recurrence. Snow became the first Superintendent in 1856 when Providence established a permanent city health department. Twenty-two years later, a State Board of Health was formed with three mandates: preventing the spread of disease, collecting vital statistics, and implementing a sanitation program.
In 1883, Dr. Charles Value Chapin became Providence's Superintendent of Health. Dr. Chapin continued Dr. Snow's efforts, improving sanitation, advocating city sewer construction, establishing quarantine regulations, and identifying the source of a cholera outbreak in 1888. Dr. Chapin instituted mandatory reporting of contagious disease cases such as scarlet fever and diphtheria. He was a leader in discouraging fumigation of houses as a disease prevention measure and established the nation's first contagious disease hospital, the Providence City Hospital, in 1910.
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Providence Board of Health records, C#95-197, Rhode Island State Archives.
This collection contains primarily photographs that document the activities of the Providence Board of Health from circa 1900 until 1977 as well as the living conditions of the population of Providence during the early years of the 20th century. The photographs include those taken by Dr. Charles V. Chapin documenting the living conditions in a Providence neighborhood circa 1900 and those taken by the Providence Housing Authority documenting the Well Baby Clinic conducted at Hartford Park in 1959. The collection also contains the first annual report completed by the Superintendent of Health (year ending July 1, 1857) as well as annual reports for the years 1961, 1963 and 1964. There are also original warning signs used to warn of the presence of diphtheria or scarlet fever in a building. The collection also includes a program from the award dinner held in 1977 for Joseph E. Cannon M.D.
Items are arranged chronologically within each folder. Items are arranged into the following series:
Typhoid Fever cases - Map of Providence (1878) 1882-1883
Typhoid Fever Cases in military camps during the Spanish American War (1904)
Rhode Island Department of Health Library records. Collection number 2006-27
Photo album of 2 x 3 and 6 x 8 photographs of specific small pox cases.
Contains seven 4 x 5 photographs taken by Dr. Charles V. Chapin documenting living conditions in a Providence neighborhood. Some street names correspond with those in the Federal Hill neighborhood.
Photo album of specific small pox cases from December 1912 - January 1913. Contains 20 un-retouched 3 x 3 1/2 photographs.
Documentation of living conditions in Providence. Includes 8 photographs of various sizes and one unmarked photograph taken April 1, 1898.
Contains twenty-six 4 x 5 photographs.
Contains one 8 x 10 photograph.
Contains eleven 5 x 7 photographs plus negatives.
Contains four 8 x 10 photographs courtesy of the Providence Housing Authority documenting the Well Baby Clinic at Hartford Park, Providence.
Contains five 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains eight 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains three 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains four 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains nine 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains four 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains three 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains three 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains twelve 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains twelve 8 x 10 photographs.
Contains five 4 x 5 cyanotypes and one 5 x 8 cyanotype.
Contains one 8 x 10 photograph.
Contains one 4 x 5 photograph.
Contains twelve 4 x 5 photographs.
Includes two copies of the First Annual Report of the Superintendent of Health of the City of Providence (year ending July 1, 1857